By Craig Page: Undefeated super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga says he’s eyeing John Ryder for his next fight and Jaime Munguia for a 2023 clash.
Munguia would be a risky fight for Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) at this point because he has better skills and has been with better opposition. If Berlanga fights Munguia next year, he could live to regret it.
Berlanga, 25, is trying to get experience under his belt or he can build his name so he can call up undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez or face David Benavidez.
After beginning his career with sixteen first-round knockouts, Berlanga has pulled away in his last four fights.
“I want to make the best fights happen. Right now, I’m in a position where I’m ranked No. 10 in the world at 168. Right now, I have the opportunity to fight whoever I want,” Edgar Berlanga told Fighthype.
“I feel like my name is big enough to call whoever I want, and we can make the fight happen. We have a guy, John Ryder; we have him on the radar right now for my next fight. So we’re trying to push that.
“Fights like that, I want them to happen. It’s good for sports. It is good for the sport of boxing. You have Jaime Munguía; we can make something happen by the end of next year. That is a rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican. That’s another money fight right there.
“He knows me and him, that’s a great, great fight in the future,” Berlanga said of him and David Benavidez. “Obviously he has both world titles and he has a lot of experience. He even said around there: ‘I think Edgar Berlanga is a great fighter. He just has to build up more experience, and we can make the fight happen.’
I just saw your dad [Jose Benavidez Sr] in the Canelo fight in Las Vegas, and it was nothing but love. He would say: ‘You and my son in the future, if the fight can happen, it will be a great fight.
“I’m not at the point where I can call Canelo and make the fight happen. Eventually he will vacate his belts, and once he does, I can jump on them,” Berlanga said.
